www.FreeRangeBirds.co.uk

American Thanksgiving Day 27th November 2014.

It is thought that back around the 1620's the first pilgrims to settle in America wanted to give thanks for the first successful harvest and as a result the tradition of Thanksgiving was born. This tradition is now recognised by Americans the world over and celebrated in America by a public holiday and feasting. The traditional centrepiece to a Thanksgiving celebration is turkey and in recent years we have had numerous requests for Thanksgiving birds, as a result we now rear some birds specially for this celebration which can be ordered from this website

Preparation

Once the birds are fully mature they are prepared on farm in the traditional manner in our purpose built processing facilities. This involves dry plucking and hanging for a minimum of 10 days in chilled conditions to develop a fuller flavour. The processes used are labour intensive, but they do go to ensure that the birds produced are of the very best quality for the final customer whether that is butchers, restaurants or private customers.

At each stage of the process from accepting the day old poults and goslings to packing and dispatching the boxed birds for the final customer we have control over what happens to the birds. All of the above go to ensure that full traceability and the highest welfare standards are maintained throughout.

About The Farm -

Watch us on Weekend Kitchen on Saturday 13th December on the Good Food Channel or on 4OD

G. B Geese is situated at Lings View Farm, Middle Street, Croxton Kerrial, on the Leicestershire and Lincolnshire borders. The nearest major town is Grantham. The Botterill family have been tending the farm for over 70 years and it is now run by Gerald and Ann Botterill with their son, Richard, and his wife, Jo.

The village is becoming increasingly well known for the picturesque sight of flocks of geese being herded through the streets. This spectacular event as been featured in several newspapers and TV programmes and our free range turkeys, geese and chickens can be seen freely grazing in the green fields surrounding the village. The grass is shared between a flock of 400 breeding ewes, 1500 geese, 3000 turkeys and 2000 Chickens

Traditional Farming Methods

We source our goslings and chicks from small specialist hatcheries that produce slow growing strains of poultry that are ideal for free range outdoor production.

In order to produce the very best poultry we rely on Traditional farming methods. All of our birds are delivered as day olds and are immediately put into small groups under brooders.

Once the birds are fully feathered they are allowed free access to fields surrounding the farmyard. Each night we are careful to make sure all the birds are shut up to protect them from predators. The birds are fed on a cereal based diet produced locally and on the farm.

Christmas Poultry

The geese and turkeys are available through November and December with the main production being aimed at Christmas, but we are constantly being asked to produce poultry year round. In order to meet this demand we have started to produce a small number of chickens on a weekly basis. This is something we will develop in future gradually increasing numbers as demand grows. Further developments include selling geese at Michealmas and producing goose fat for sale.

Availability

Orders being taken now for Christmas 2014.

To Download an Order Form right click and choose Save Target As - PDF / Word

If you would prefer to pay by cheque you can download an order form here